Mixed reactions among Americans evacuated from Lebanon

Reactions from evacuees now safe in Cyprus mixedSome exhausted by long trip; others relished the cruise

GREGORY KATZ, Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Middle East Bureau

Published
5:30 am CDT, Thursday, July 20, 2006

LARNACA, CYPRUS - The first group of exhausted Americans evacuated from Beirut arrived on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus before dawn today aboard a cruise ship in what was expected to become one of the largest evacuations since World War II.

With its white paint and festive lights, the eight-deck Orient Queen reminded some at dockside of the Love Boat. But one glance at the estimated 900 people on board made it clear that this had not been a pleasure cruise.

The passengers who had fled the fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah forces started coming down the gangway at 2:30 a.m. after the long trip and an even longer wait to get out of Lebanon. First off were the elderly, walking with canes, and then came a number of young mothers with fatigued infants in their arms.

One of the first people to depart the ship was Linda Zarifi, a Lebanese American from Austin who was visiting family in Lebanon when the violence erupted July 12.

Criticizing U.S. response

"It was a horrible, horrible vacation," she said. "It was a disaster. The trip out was very long, and I'm really, really tired. It took a long time to get out of Lebanon. It was chaotic."

She planned to take one of the charter flights organized by the U.S. Embassy to return to the United States as quickly as possible.

The Americans were expected to be joined by another 8,000 U.S. evacuees in the next week as the government's evacuation unfolds, using both civilian and naval vessels. Another 1,500 Americans are to arrive here later today.

The evacuation got under way two days after the first Europeans fled the Lebanese capital on ships, and thousands more Europeans continued to stream out by sea Wednesday.

Some Americans in Lebanon harshly criticized Washington for seeming to respond slowly to the fighting. Israeli jets have attacked targets in the Beirut area nearly every day for the past week, while gunners for Hezbollah shot missiles into northern Israel and its militiamen engaged in firefights with Israeli soldiers.

U.S. officials, however, said that extra time was needed for planning and coordinating such a large evacuation. Others said they also wanted to make sure the evacuees were taken out in a certain level of comfort.

Some of the arriving evacuees seemed almost relaxed after their ordeal. A few even managed to enjoy the chance to ride on a well-equipped cruise ship, said Nabil el-Hage, of Weston, Mass., who was traveling with his daughter, Beatrice, when the fighting started.

"We had a private cabin, and I took a nice shower," he said. "They had sandwiches and mixed drinks. I had a piña colada. Some people were swimming in the pools."

The criticism of the U.S. evacuation was unfair, he said. "They took an extra day, but it was worth it. It was very well-organized."

He said the vessels used in the U.S. evacuation were an obvious target for Hezbollah.

"They had to get the security right," he said of the U.S. officials. "There were Marines all over the place (in the port of Beirut, where the evacuation began). They did a really good job."

Officials in Washington said that the U.S. government will use four ships for the evacuation, including a naval transport, the USS Nashville. Other naval vessels will protect the evacuees' ships as they steam between Beirut and Larnaca, on the southern coast of Cyprus.

Hezbollah showed it can hit a ship at sea when a missile struck an Israeli warship last weekend, killing several sailors.

The first Americans, who came out earlier on French and Norwegian vessels, were able to escape most of the bloodshed in Lebanon.

The violence prompted European nations, including Italy, France and Spain, to remove hundreds of their citizens in recent days. French officials called for safe transit areas to be established inside Lebanon so people can be taken out of the country without fear of being bombed.

An enormous effort

One British official said the removal of Britons from Lebanon would involve the largest evacuation since the famed withdrawal from Dunkirk.

During World War II, more than 300,000 British, French and Belgian troops were evacuated from Dunkirk and the surrounding French beaches in May and June 1940, escaping advancing German forces. At the time, the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, said it was "a miracle of deliverance." Many small craft captained by their private owners participated in the evacuation under German bombardment.

Some of the evacuees today said they were not frightened because they had been through similar events in the past during Lebanon's 15-year civil war that ended in 1990.

"We're kind of used to it," said Kamil Saber, a Lebanese American who lives in New Jersey. "But it wasn't pleasant. We couldn't move. We were afraid of being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Still, he said he and other Lebanese Americans are determined to return next summer for their traditional visits.